Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brutal prison and torture regime was on full display this week, as victorious rebels excavated the political prisons now freed by the dictator.
Syrian opposition leader Abu Muhammad al-Julani pledged to dissolve the council Assad regime The remnants of the security forces, as well as closed prisons that were used to house political opponents.
Thousands of Syrians stormed Assad's various prisons across the country as his regime fell in hopes of releasing their imprisoned friends and family members. Thousands were released alive, but others were found dead and others are still missing.
US prosecutors have named two Syrian officials who they say ran a torture facility at the Mezzeh Air Base in the Syrian capital, Damascus. The United States claims that its victims include political prisoners, peaceful protesters and a 26-year-old American woman Who is later believed to have been executed.
A torn photo of Bashar al-Assad inside the presidential palace on December 10, 2024 in Damascus, Syria (Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images)
The US indictment names Jamil Hassan, director of the Syrian Air Force Intelligence branch, who prosecutors say oversaw a prison and torture center at the Mezzeh Air Base in the capital, Damascus, and Abdel Salam Mahmoud, who prosecutors say ran the prison.
Most popular from Al-Assad prison facilities But it was Saydnaya prison, which is located just outside Damascus.
Syrian citizens flocked to the prison in the days following the fall of Assad on Sunday, breaking the cells and opening what the photos reveal of a labyrinthine prison. While dozens were released on Sunday, almost no one has been found since then.
Investigators, civilians and rebels are searching Saydnaya prison, hoping to uncover hidden rooms where detainees may still be held. Outside, hundreds of families anxiously await news of their missing or disappeared loved ones, clinging to the hope of reunification. More than 30,000 people were killed over decades in the “human slaughterhouse” outside Damascus, where the regime sought to suppress dissent by death penalty. (Sandro Basile Abaca/Seiba via AP Images)
“Where is everyone? Where are everyone's kids? Where are they?” Ghada Al-Assad said as she broke down in tears.
However, Syrians continue to search the facility in search of hidden cells and documents that might shed light on the fate of their family members.
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Khairiya Ismail, 54, said about prison and Assad’s rule: “There is no home, and there is no woman in Syria who has not lost a brother, child, or husband.”
People inspect documents found at the notorious Saydnaya military prison, north of Damascus, Syria, Monday, December 9, 2024. Crowds gather to enter the prison, known as the “human slaughterhouse,” after thousands of prisoners were released after rebels overthrew Bashar al-Assad's regime. (AP Photo/Hussein Al-Mulla)
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An estimated 150,000 people have been detained or missing in Syria since 2011. Tens of thousands of them are believed to have passed through Saydnaya, according to the Associated Press.
Amnesty International estimated that there were between 10,000 and 20,000 people detained in the prison as of 2017. The organization also claimed that there were routine mass executions.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
